[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 132
"What? These goddamn bastards."
Clone grabbed her mace and tried to run outside.
Zeke stopped Clone.
"What are you going to do?"
"What do you mean what am I going to do? I'm going to kill all those paladin bastards."
"If you die doing that, who's going to take us to the headquarters?"
Clone shouted as she pushed past Zeke,
"Then help me take those bastards down!"
Zeke shook his head as he watched Clone cursing and going outside.
Liam quietly asked Zeke,
"What should we do, my lord?"
Zeke rummaged through his belongings and put on a mask.
"We intervene only enough to avoid revealing our identities. If it seems like we can't stop the paladins, take Clone and escape immediately. Felix, don't use paladin swordsmanship."
"Ugh. Yes."
Zeke and his party put on masks and followed Clone.
The entrance to the hideout was already in the middle of a chaotic battle.
The secret paladin unit, disguised as mercenaries, were swinging their swords at the gang members.
Clone jumped into the fray, swinging her mace.
"Die! You bastards!"
Thud!
Paladins were sent flying from Clone's mace.
Seeing Clone wielding her mace so ferociously, it was hard to believe she was a nun.
As Clone stirred up the chaotic battle with her mace and roars, the paladins retreated.
Then, one of the paladins stepped forward and held up the shield he was carrying on his back.
"In the name of the Sun God, I shall punish these heretics!"
The paladins openly invoked the name of the Sun God, disregarding their disguise.
All the paladins took out their shields and drew their swords.
Although not as skilled as the Empire, the Holy Kingdom's paladins also learned shield swordsmanship as a basic skill.
Especially in this kind of chaotic battle, shields were effective.
Thud! Thud!
The paladins advanced little by little, using their shields to block the arrows and swords of the Rose Society members.
Zeke, who had faced the Holy Kingdom's paladins in his previous life, was disgusted by their tenacious fighting style.
'They're more troublesome than ordinary knights on the battlefield.'
Even when Clone disrupted their shield formation with her mace, other paladins quickly filled in and formed a solid defensive line.
A prolonged battle would be disadvantageous for the Rose Society.
Zeke said to Liam and Felix,
"I'll go to the rear and disrupt their defense. You guys watch the situation and take Clone and escape."
"Ugh, will that Sister listen to us?"
"Try your best to make her listen."
Zeke left Felix and Liam and went around to the back, concealing his presence using stealth.
The rear was also firmly guarded by paladins with shields.
Zeke held up his sword and used the Mace of Light on the paladins.
Crash!
A giant aura of light struck the paladins.
"Damn it! It's the Lubern bastards' magic!"
Just as the paladins were trying to regain their balance and get up,
Zeke used the Lightning Strike skill on them.
Crackle!
The paladins, gathered in a narrow space, were electrocuted all at once by the lightning attack.
"Grrr!"
Unable to dodge, the paladins hit directly by the lightning foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
Zeke drew Bahamut and charged towards the paladins who were still standing.
Crash!
As he swung Bahamut , the floor and ceiling cracked with every swing.
The paladin who clashed with Zeke's sword had his wrist broken and collapsed.
"Ugh! It's heretical magic!"
More disguised paladins with shields continued to pour in from outside the building.
'They came in large numbers.'
Tempel and the Holy Kingdom were geographically close, and the Thorne clan didn't strictly control movement between cities, so it seemed that many disguised paladins had entered the city.
Zeke struck the paladins' shields and then used the Shield of Light.
Woooong!
A giant Shield of Light appeared, protecting Zeke.
The paladins struck the shield with their aura-imbued swords, but they were thrown back by the rebound.
Zeke stretched out his hand and pushed the shield forward.
Whoosh!
The shield exploded, and a giant aura of light scattered in all directions.
Zeke took advantage of the opening, knocked down the paladins, and broke through their defensive line facing the Rose Society.
Zeke approached Clone, who was ferociously wielding her mace, and shouted,
"More paladins are coming! We have to get out of here now!"
Although she was hot-headed, Clone was one of the key executives leading the Rose Society.
She barely managed to calm down and agreed with Zeke's words.
"You bastards! Everyone, scatter!"
At Clone's command, the gang members dispersed in an orderly fashion.
And they set fires throughout the hideout.
Perhaps they had set up devices beforehand, as the fire spread rapidly.
Clone gestured to Zeke and his party.
"Hey! This way! If you're not careful, you'll get caught in the explosion and die!"
Zeke and his party followed Clone down to the basement of the hideout.
It was a secret passage connected to an old sewer.
Not long after they went down into the sewer, a huge explosion was heard from above.
Rumble!
They heard the building collapsing.
Zeke could understand how the Rose Society had avoided the eyes of the Holy Kingdom for decades.
'They're complete guerrillas.'
Clone gestured to Zeke and his party.
They had to go through the dirty sewer and exit through a passage connected to the outside.
Zeke and Liam, who had already undergone similar training at the academy, entered the sewer without hesitation, but Felix couldn't stand the smell and vomited.
"Ugh!"
Clone shook her head as she looked at Felix.
"He's quite a handful."
***
After crawling through the sewer for almost two hours, the group finally reached the exit.
Felix's face was pale.
Clone clicked her tongue as she looked at Felix.
"This guy needs some toughening up."
"I'd like to send him to the Rose Knights' training exchange program."
"Oh, that would be fun."
Clone replied with a smile and then walked over to a spot hidden by bushes and kicked the ground.
Then, she removed a wooden board buried in the ground and took out a backpack from inside.
"We're going to climb the mountain to reach the headquarters. Take these basic supplies."
Zeke shook his head.
"We don't need to take any supplies. I've already prepared them."
Clone tilted her head in confusion.
Zeke opened the bag he was carrying and took out items from his inventory.
"A subspace backpack? I knew Draker was rich, but do they even supply things like that?"
"It's a personal item. Let's wash up and change into these clothes. Those pursuers will be here soon."
The group went to the stream, washed off the dirt on their bodies, and changed into the clothes Zeke took out.
Then, they immediately went up the mountain.
The Rose Society, accustomed to guerrilla warfare, had a greater advantage fighting individually in the mountains.
Clone had a surprised expression as she saw Zeke and his party climbing the mountain better than she expected.
"Do they teach mountain climbing in Draker too?"
"...You seem to be quite interested in Draker."
Clone giggled at Zeke's words. They continued climbing the mountain until sunset, making light conversation, and chose a spot under a rock that could conceal them as their campsite.
Zeke skillfully took out camping equipment.
Liam and Felix also naturally gathered stones and firewood to create a fire pit that wouldn't be visible.
Zeke took out instant food from his inventory, put it in a pot, added water, and boiled it.
With warm soup, bread, and grilled jerky, it was a splendid meal, hardly a camping meal.
"Huh, even soup in Draker..."
"That's not true at all, so stop it."
After filling their stomachs, the four decided on a watch order and took turns resting.
Zeke and Clone were on the first watch.
He continued asking Clone what he couldn't ask earlier.
"Why were you surprised to hear that there were Healer classes other than Lubern?"
Clone looked at Zeke with a dumbfounded expression.
"Because the Blessing of Light is only bestowed upon the Lubern bloodline."
"Blessing of Light? Is it like the Blessing of Aura or the Blessing of Magic Power?"
"It's not exactly the same, but it's similar in some ways. We also have a lot of lost data, so we don't know everything, but we assume the Blessing of Light is a bloodline ability of Lubern."
"Bloodline ability. What exactly is the Blessing of Light? Are you talking about healing abilities?"
"That's also a type of light magic. The Blessing of Light is like a talent for learning and using light magic. What's embedded in my mace and your sword is light magic."
The quest also mentioned that light magic could only be passed down to inheritors of the Lubern bloodline.
'Blessing of Light. I didn't know there was such a bloodline ability.'
Clone, munching on the jerky Zeke gave her, lamented,
"Ha, I struggled for almost ten years to use that Light's Breath. And this Draker guy uses it as soon as he holds the mace."
Zeke asked Clone another question.
"Can that divine power be trained? It seemed like you could use light magic if you learned it."
Clone shook her head.
"Only the descendants of Lubern can use light magic. Holy knights like us can only manifest the weapons imbued with their power through divine power."
"Hmm, what exactly is that divine power? It seems different from aura."
Clone pondered for a moment and opened her mouth.
"How should I put it? It's hard to explain. You just have to love God with all your heart."
"...I don't understand even more."
"It's hard to put into words, but there's something like that. When you cultivate your mind and call upon God, your heart becomes filled with warmth. That's how you generate divine power."
Listening to Clone's words, Zeke felt that it was similar to how he generated mana in his Ether hall.
'Could divine power be the mana in the Ether hall?'
Zeke, who had made an assumption, shook his head.
He didn't feel any traces of dantian or mana when Clone used Light's Breath.
It seemed that he would have to meet a descendant of Lubern to solve this question.
When the sun rose, the four climbed the mountain again and headed to the Rose Society's headquarters in the northern part of Tempel.
It was quite a complicated journey, walking along mountain paths to avoid leaving any traces and taking detours by getting on carriages midway.
After two days, the group finally reached the headquarters.
Felix was surprised to see the Rose Society's headquarters.
"This is the headquarters? It's just a farm?"
Clone didn't bother explaining and just kicked Felix's shin.
"Ouch!"
"Don't say strange things and just follow me. Especially in front of the princess. Especially you."
Felix rubbed his shin and whispered to Liam,
"Ugh. Senior Liam, that woman is definitely not a nun, but a witch."
Liam, embarrassed by Felix, moved away.
Zeke and his party followed Clone into an old mansion next to the farm.
While they waited in the drawing-room, Clone went to bring the Knight Commander.
Felix looked around the mansion, and Liam was on guard in case of any danger.
And a few minutes later, Clone, dressed in a neat sister's attire, and a woman appeared from the second floor.
Clone came down the stairs holding the woman's hand.
The woman's face, hair, and everything else were as white as snow.
She was wearing a white dress with a blue rose brooch.
Zeke realized that the woman walking with Clone's arm around her couldn't see.
The woman sat across from Zeke, and Clone stood behind her.
The pure white woman smiled brightly and opened her mouth.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Arina Lubern, the one in charge of the Rose Knights."
Although she was a delicate woman who didn't seem like she had ever been in battle, her voice held an undeniable dignity.
'There's a reason why the Rose Knights have maintained their existence for so long.'
Zeke looked at Arina Lubern and said,
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Zeke Draker."
Arina covered her mouth and laughed.
"Clone told me about you. She was so excited to have seen a real Draker. She said pure-blood Drakers have horns on their heads, sharp teeth, and when they laugh, they always..."
"Laugh like a demon, 'Khehehe'?"
"Ah! That's right. I can't see your face, Sir Zeke, but hearing your voice, I don't think you're like that at all. A comfortable, stable, yet strong resonance. I can feel that you're a truly strong person."
Zeke felt himself being drawn into Arina's words.
He pulled himself together and brought up the reason he came here.
"The reason I asked to meet you, Princess, is..."
"Did you come to deliver the light magic book that Lubern lost long ago?"
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]